Easter Sunday

The long weekend has ended. From Good Friday afternoon, there is supposed to be a long stillness until late Saturday night, to represent the body of the Lord lying in the tomb until the glorious moment on Sunday morning when He rose and changed everything. The Church uses this line from the letter of S. Paul to the Philippians to illustrate this self-abasement of Christ, which resulted in His glory:

"His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet He did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted; He dispossessed Himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting Himself to us in human form; and then He lowered His own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought Him to death, death on a cross. That is why God has raised Him to such a height, given Him that name which is greater than any other name; so that everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the Name of Jesus, and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2: 6-11

I'm not certain what was arranged last year at the church, but I thought I would offer the first Mass of Easter at or just after midnight. I therefore arranged for the Easter vigil of readings to begin just after 23.00 at night. In the circumstances, it wasn't a good idea to have a wood-fire, so the Easter candle was lit simply and stands now in front of the lecturn in church. Following the missal, the seven readings were read in candlelight, until the great Gloria that ended the season of Lent. 

The liturgy of the sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday evening, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday) doesn't work well without the people. It was something of a relief to come to the Easter Mass of the Day, this morning. Mass was offered this morning for the peaceful repose of the souls of Harold and Moira Spencer (++), may they be blessed. 

By another old tradition, the next seven days are an extension of Easter Sunday, so that Easter is celebrated for a total of eight days - an octave of days. I hope all of you have had a blessed and a holy Easter, and that you will be able to celebrate as well until next Sunday, which is traditionally called Low Sunday, because it descends from the high of the Octave. At least, I think that's true. 

This should be another quiet week.